preload
Apr 12

Basil is KrayClick for larger image

Bellatrix Comments: Cool it Xena! It’s just a joke. You’re not going to report me to H.R., are you?
Published 1980

Actually, that cover IS a classical work of art!I would touch it without protective gloves.I've seen worse. Far, far, worse.Interesting, but I would still read it in public.Middlng: Neither awful nor awfully goodWould not like to be seen reading that!Awful... just awful...That belongs in a gold-lame picture frame!Gah... my eyes are burning! Feels so good!Good Show Sir! (Average: 5.95 out of 10)
Loading...

Tagged with:

25 Responses to “Basilisk”

  1. THX 1138 Says:

    The weird thing is, they’re both struggling to maintain eye contact.

  2. Bibliomancer Says:

    Twonicorns!

  3. JuanPaul Says:

    Rowena is such a bizarre artist. Skilled, yet there is always some level awkwardness to most every thing she paints. And she loves her some big booty.

  4. Raoul Says:

    The basilisk is a mythological snake. Just sayin’

  5. fred Says:

    I see your Unicorns! and raise you an alligator head belt buckle.

  6. Francis Boyle Says:

    This must be the supreme example of Rowena’s commitment to doing anything to get out of painting feet.

  7. B. Chiclitz Says:

    Hmmm, a translucent magician, eh? He must have some impressive crystal balls. That’s what I think she’s trying to avoid eye contact with, actually, although the Twonicorns! seems intrigued.

  8. Bibliomancer Says:

    @B.C. – That magician must be The Amazing Randy. Or David Cop-a-feel.

  9. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @B’mancer—Hairy Ho’-dini?

  10. Longtime_lurker Says:

    Close scrutiny shows the need for a “devil’s dumplings” tag.

  11. Anna T. Says:

    He’s see-through. I’m going to assume this means he’s made of crystal.

    I do appreciate the gender equality in their clothing – they’re both pretty much naked, especially our see-though man.

  12. Alice Says:

    Includes the Hugo-winning story “I Scream at Djini”

  13. Longtime_lurker Says:

    According to one of the few reviews on Goodreads, there are no basilisks in the book. OTOH it has a Lafferty story I’ve not encountered before. But I still don’t think I’d read it on the bus.

  14. Tat Wood Says:

    “Roshan Tumescar; si-i-ize of a courgette”.

  15. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @Alice (12)—the original title for that story was “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream at Djini,” but Ellison sued.

  16. Tat Wood Says:

    Is the raven-haired swordmistress called ‘Sybillisk’?

  17. GSS ex-noob Says:

    At first glance, I could swear we’d seen this before, but probably just things much like this. I’d have remembered Twonicorn!

    This book contains stories by a lot of feminist writers; they may not have been best pleased by the topless woman with the literal vagina dentata Maybe his complete nekkidity made up for it, even if we can’t see the front. I think we need both “devil’s dumplings” and “Sir Mix-a-Lot” here.

    How is her knife and sword going to do any good against the green flasher? He’s not solid! You can’t stab non-corporeal beings, no matter how much they deserve having their exposed djinn junk cut off.

    @Francis: either Rowena missed foot day at UAI or she paints from the top down and by the time she’s at foot level, she’s either hit the deadline or is tired from lovingly rendering all that flesh and muscles.

    @BC: hush! he’ll come yell at us again!

    If this book looks us in the eye, will we die? Is that why none of them are making eye contact with each other?

  18. Anti-Sceptic Says:

    “Ohhhh…you meant you are hung WITH a horse!”

  19. GSS ex-noob Says:

    @A-S: yes, when the husband first glanced at it, he thought the horse was coming out of the man’s torso.

    Here’s the true story behind (har) the cover, according to Ellen Kushner. Surprise — book was created b/c they had this painting available. They show the book it was originally for.

    https://www.blackgate.com/2016/04/08/a-tale-of-two-covers-ellen-kushner-on-basilisk/

    (Someone already made your joke there, alas)

  20. Bruce A Munro Says:

    It’s an interpretive dance act?

    @GSS-ex-noob: of course she can stab him, as long as she has a _magic_ knife and sword. Because magic.

  21. GSS ex-noob Says:

    @Bruce: Of course! Silly me.

  22. Francis Boyle Says:

    Basil is K? Was this before or after he became Q?

    And, yes, folks I finally get to a John Cleese joke four days after Tat Wood.

  23. Tracy Says:

    The djinn’s left arm and shoulder are extremely wonky, plus he has a bad case of jazz hands, so I’ll give this ten stars for the WTF-ness and the awkwardness of the poses. Rowena in her heyday used live models posed in a photographer’s studio with props, and I guess she never moved past this technique into improvisational sketching. All her characters from this time look disassociated and.or ridiculous.

  24. A.R.Yngve Says:

    So even among djinns there are flashers, then?

  25. Calyx Says:

    “FFS! I ordered a HORNY man, not a unicorny man; oh, forget it.”

Leave a Reply